


Strawberries and Cream

by Kittens



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brendol Hux's A+ Parenting, Established Relationship, M/M, Past Abuse, Slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-18 21:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittens/pseuds/Kittens
Summary: Armitage does not celebrate his birthday. Ben wants to fix that.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 17
Kudos: 54
Collections: Kylux Positivity Week 2020





	Strawberries and Cream

**Author's Note:**

> There is a brief mention of past abuse in here, but there is not much detail on it. Brendol also starts to use a homophobic slur but doesn't have a chance to say it. Other than that, this is pretty soft.

“You want anything for your birthday?”

It seemed like a perfectly innocent question, but Armitage had refused to give Ben an answer. He said he didn’t want anything, that Ben did enough for him as it was and that he didn’t need anything special, but Ben really wanted to do something. He’d finally found out just when his birthday was after years of Armitage saying it wasn’t important.

After a couple of days, Armitage sat down with Ben and explained that he didn’t celebrate his birthday and he hadn’t since he was eight. That sounded horribly depressing to Ben, but Armitage went on to explain that his mother had always been the one to bake him a special birthday cake. After she’d died, his stepmother had made a very half-assed attempt and Armitage had cried for two days, only stopping when he’d been slapped in the face by his father.

After that, Brendol had decided that they wouldn’t celebrate his birthday ever again, and even though he was in college, Armitage really didn’t see any point. The only reason he even remembered his birthday was because he needed to it to fill out forms.

Ben had hugged Armitage for at least an hour after he told that story. He knew that Brendol was a terrible father, but that was the first time Armitage had really told him a story from his childhood. Ben had known about some of the things Brendol had done while they were in high school, but that was only because they had been friends back then and Armitage couldn’t keep it hidden no matter how much he tried.

As soon as Ben knew that Armitage was being hurt, he begged his parents to let Armitage stay with them. He’d even said that he’d go back to his uncle’s boarding school if it meant that his only friend would have a safe place to stay. Fortunately, his parents were not the type to stand by and let an innocent person be hurt. 

Ben still remembered sending a text to Armitage and telling him to pack his things as he and his parents, along with his uncles Chewie and Lando, drove over to pick him up. Han, Chewie and Lando had helped Armitage carry out his belongings while Leia had stood in Brendol’s way, preventing him from interfering. 

It had been a great day, and Armitage had been living with Ben ever since. Armitage was smart and was accepted into college. Ben could have gone as well, but he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. Instead, he moved with Armitage, getting a job to help pay for them to have a place to live. After Armitage graduated and got a job, then Ben would think about college. Maybe by then, he’d know what he wanted to do.

But at the moment, the thing he wanted to do had nothing to do with college. He just wanted to make Armitage happy. Although he’d hadn’t asked Armitage about his birthday again, he’d gathered enough hints to know that Brendol very likely still had Armitage’s mom’s old recipes. All he had to do was get it.

That’s why Ben found himself standing outside of Brendol’s house. Like the other houses in the neighborhood, it looked very neat on the outside. The paint was the same color as nearly every other house - all shades of light browns and a few pale blues and greys - and the landscaping consisted of a well-kept lawn and the choice of five other plants. 

Ben always thought it was boring to have every house look so similar. If he and Armitage ever had a house, Ben knew he would make it far more exciting. But the future landscaping of a house he might not ever have wasn’t what he needed to focus on. He needed to walk up the driveway, ring the doorbell and ask for the recipes. 

He still remembered being sixteen, driving away from that house for the last time with Armitage. They’d been in the back of Han’s truck and they’d turned around to flip it off. Armitage swore he’d never go back there, and Ben never thought he’d be back either. He’d never liked Brendol, and although he didn’t want to talk to him, he needed to do it.

As he walked up the driveway, he wondered if maybe his stepmom would answer. She’d never really been nice, but she’d been better than Brendol. Not that it was much of an accomplishment. For the most part, she’d simply ignored Armitage. She never would have lifted a finger to help him, but if giving Ben what he wanted meant she could get rid of him, then she just might make things easy.

When he rang the doorbell, he was disappointed to see that it was Brendol who opened the door. He frowned at him.

“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.” He started to close the door, but Ben put his foot inside. That’s when he saw the recognition flash across Brendol’s face. “Your that damn Organa boy, aren’t you. Unless you’re telling me that worthless son of mine is dead, I don’t care.”

Ben was shocked at that heartless comment. He knew Brendol was a bastard but he couldn’t believe that he could care so little about his own son. Brendol tried closing the door again, but Ben didn’t budge. That’s when he realized just how much had changed in five years.

The last time he’d seen Brendol, he’d been tall and skinny, and still growing. Now, he was taller than Brendol and had put on a bit of muscle as well. When he was a teen, Brendol would have been able to push Ben around just as easy as he had Armitage. But not anymore. Now, Ben had the advantage and he didn’t have to feel bad about bullying Brendol.

Ben pushed his way inside the house, everything looking just like he had remembered it. Plain furniture, a few pieces of art and small decorations, but nothing that would tell anyone about the kind of people who lived there. There were no photos on the wall, nothing laying around out of place. For Ben, it had always felt strange being there.

At least he wouldn’t have to be there long.

“I need a recipe,” Ben said. 

“I don’t have anything of the sort,” Brendol said. “Now get out of my house!”

“I need it,” Ben said. “Just let me go look in the basement and then I’ll be gone forever.”

“No! Now get out before I call the cops!”

That was exactly the reaction that Ben had expected from Brendol and he was already prepared to do whatever it took. “Fine. Call the cops then.”

He headed towards the basement door, but Brendol grabbed his arm. “I said get out!”

“What is all the fuss about?” Hux’s stepmom walked around the corner and looked between the two of them. Ben pulled his arm away from Brendol, but now, the basement door was blocked.

“He’s intruding in our house! Maratelle, call the cops!”

“Ben, right?” Maratelle asked as she looked him over. Ben nodded. “Still with Armitage, I presume.”

“Don’t talk to him! We need to get rid of him!”

“I assume you need something,” Maratelle said, ignoring Brendol.

“A recipe. It was Armitage’s mother’s.”

“We don’t have anything of hers!”

“For fuck’s sake, Brendol!” Maratelle snapped. Ben was shocked. He’d never heard her so angry. “If he wants to take that old shit, let him! It’s not like you need it for any reason!”

“He doesn’t deserve to have any of it!” Brendol shouted. 

“It’s hardly his fault he left you. Maybe if you wanted him to stay, you should have treated him better!” Maratelle turned her attention to Ben. “I’ll show you where you can find what you need.”

Maratelle turned around and opened the basement door. Ben hesitated, but followed her down. He hadn’t expected her to help him, especially if it meant defying Brendol. Maybe things had changed in five years. 

“Here you go,” she said once they were in the basement. She patted a small stack of boxes. “I think this is mostly all of her things.”

“Thank you,” Ben said as he stepped over to open the first box. It mostly seemed to be art supplies, so Ben moved it and opened up the next box. That one looked more promising.

“I always wished I’d helped Armitage more,” Maratelle said. “I know this doesn’t make up for anything.”

“It means a lot, actually,” Ben said. “If I can make the cake, that is.”

“Oh, you must be looking for the special cake recipe,” Maratelle said. Ben only nodded. “I had just married Brendol before Armitage’s birthday. I thought I could make myself part of the family by making that stupid cake. I’d never been much of a baker and I knew I’d never manage to follow that recipe, so I bought a box of mix. Armitage cried for days.”

“I don’t think it was about the cake,” Ben said as he flipped through what he thought might be a recipe book.

“No, it wasn’t. It was his first birthday without his mother and some new woman came in and ruined everything. In the eyes of a child, that must have been one of the worst days of his life up until then. Of course, I took it personally back then.”

Maratelle was looking in the box and she reached in and pulled out what looked like a journal. She opened it up and flipped through a few pages before handing it to Ben. He looked down at the page and saw that it was titled “Armie’s Strawberry Cake” and there were little strawberry drawings along the edge.

“This is it?” Ben asked.

“That’s the one.” Maratelle dug through the box a little bit more and pulled out two more small books. “Take these too.”

“I only need the one,” Ben muttered.

“I think he might like to have these. In fact, if he wants any of this, he can have it. I’ll give you my number so you can arrange a time when Brendol’s not around to pick it up.”

“Thank you,” Ben said as he took the books from her. He glanced at the other boxes. There wasn’t much, but they also didn’t have a large apartment. “We don’t have a lot of space, but I’ll see if he wants it.”

“It’s been here all these years,” she said. “I’m sure it still will be when he’s ready for it.”

They left the basement and Maratelle wrote down her number on a piece of paper, and Ben tucked it inside one of the books. He thought he’d finished the hardest part of the job when Brendol stepped in his way.

“You can’t take those,” Brendol said. “They don’t belong to you or that fa-”

Ben didn’t even wait to hear the rest of what Brendol had to say. He knew exactly what he would say and he wasn’t going to Brendol talk about Armitage that way. Before he even realized what he was doing, Ben was swinging his fist and it connected with the side of Brendol’s face.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, both of them shocked. Ben recovered first and he couldn’t help but punch Brendol again. He deserved it after all he’d done to Armitage. Brendol was bleeding from his nose and Ben hoped it was broken. But either way, it got Brendol out of the way so he could make his getaway.

Now all he had to do was learn how to bake a cake. After getting the recipe, that should be the easy part.

***

Baking was not the easy part of the job. Ben had started working on the cake as soon as Armitage left for school, and within an hour, he realized he was never going to get it right. The reason he never celebrated his birthday was because someone had messed up on the cake and Ben knew if he didn’t get it right, he wouldn’t get another chance. There was only one thing he could do.

He called his dad, but he didn’t pick up. Han was probably working anyway. His mom might be available, but Ben couldn’t remember her ever baking a cake. Han always did, or if he couldn’t, Leia would get a really nice one at a bakery. He should have spent more time learning how to bake as a kid like Rey did.

Rey. She might be able to save him.

Ben quickly called his sister. She’d be on her way to school, but she just might be willing to help him out. Especially if he paid her. 

“I’m at school,” Rey said when she answered the phone.

“I know, but I really need your help,” he said. “I need to bake a cake but I don’t know what I’m doing and I have to get this right. You gotta help me.”

She didn’t say anything for a while and Ben thought she might have hung up on him, but he could still hear noise in the background. “What’s in it for me?” she asked eventually.

“What do you want?”

“Three new games,” she said immediately.

“One,” Ben countered.

“Two.”

“One new game, any price and one that’s less than forty dollars.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you at mom’s.”

Ben let out a sigh of relief and quickly started gathering up the ingredients he had left over. He’d need to stop at the store and pick up a few things he’d already wasted in his sad attempt at baking a cake. Hopefully things would be better once he had a little help.

When he made it to his parents’ house, he saw Rey’s truck in the driveway. He wasn’t surprised since her school was only about ten minutes away. Ben walked in the door, which was fortunately unlocked because he was carrying several bags of groceries. He decided to get some candy for Rey too, since she always liked that.

“Why are you so desperate to bake a cake?” Rey asked as Ben walked into the kitchen.

Ben was about to tell her when he realized that they were not alone. Rey’s boyfriend was sitting at the kitchen table, books spread out in front of him. Kylo stared at him and then looked back at Rey. “What’s he doing here?”

“Finn said if I’m ditching class that I should at least keep up with my homework. So he’s here to help with that.”

It didn’t matter that he was there, but Ben still felt awkward. He didn’t want more people than necessary knowing what he was doing. It wasn’t as if Finn was going to be telling Armitage about the cake. They’d only met a few times and Ben didn’t even think they got along all that well. 

“You okay, Ben?” Rey asked. “Where’s the recipe?”

“Here it is,” he said, pulling the recipe book from one of the grocery bags. He had the page bookmarked and opened up to the recipe and Rey looked it over.

“Looks easy enough,” she said. “You reduce the strawberries and I’ll measure out the ingredients.”

“Um.” Ben hated to admit how bad he was when it came to baking. But he couldn’t screw up again. “I don’t think I know how to do that.”

“You’re such a disaster, Ben. Haven’t you ever baked before?”

“I made a cake from a box before.” That hadn’t been too hard, although Ben had baked the cupcakes a little too long and they were a little bit crisp on the outside.

“Get out the blender and puree the strawberries,” Rey instructed. “That’s step one. Then measure them out and make sure you have two cups and then you’re going to heat them on the stove, okay? Make sure you keep stirring so they don’t burn.”

“Seems easy enough,” Ben said. He got out the blender and dropped a bunch of strawberries in. He hadn’t understood what the recipe meant when it said “reduce” and he had simply added less strawberries. That hadn’t really made sense but Ben couldn’t think of what else it might mean. How was he supposed to know that he was meant to cook them? Why didn’t the recipe just say that?

Once he had the strawberries cooking, he looked over and saw Rey was mixing things in a bowl. He watched her, wanting to know how to make the cake for next time. If there was a next time. Ben liked to think that the cake would turn out so well that Armitage would let him make the cake every year for his birthday.

“Why are the eggs in water?” Ben asked. Was that somehow important? He’d completely screwed up with the eggs in his own attempt. Maybe getting them wet somehow helped get the yolk out of the white. Kylo had simply cracked the eggs over his hand and caught the yolks.

“You have to let them sit in warm water to get them to room temperature,” Rey said. “It works better that way. And before you ask, no, you can’t warm them up on the stove. That’ll just cook them.”

“I was going to suggest the microwave,” Ben muttered, but he knew Rey was right. He’d just end up with cooked eggs and he suspected that would not work out well in a cake.

“How is he an adult?” Finn asked.

“Shut up,” Ben grumbled. “I just don’t know how to bake.”

“Obviously.”

“Do your homework, nerd.”

“Be nice to Finn,” Rey threatened. “Or we’re going to be renegotiating our deal.”

“Sorry,” Ben muttered. “How long do I have to cook these for?”

“It needs to be thick. Like spaghetti sauce. It might take twenty minutes or so. Maybe a bit longer.”

“Oh.” The strawberries still looked just as runny as they had after Ben had blended them up. He kept stirring and watched as Rey kept mixing things. When she simply dumped a bunch of flour into a bowl, he was a little surprised.

“How do you know that’s the right amount of flour?”

“I’m weighing it,” Rey said. “It’s a lot more accurate than trying to get the volume. Anything that compacts really needs to be weighed.”

“But how -”

“I know how much a cup of flour is supposed to weigh,” Rey said, guessing Ben’s question. He knew she knew how to bake, but he hadn’t realized she’d known so much. “I can rewrite the recipe for you to make the instructions more clear. This was written by someone who was an experienced baker.”

“Thanks.”

“So,” Rey said. “You want to tell me why you’re so desperate to bake a cake all of a sudden?”

“It’s Armitage’s birthday,” Ben said. He could have just left it at that, but Rey was smart. She would know there was more to it than that given the difficulty of the recipe and the fact that it was an old, handwritten recipe in a book that clearly was not his handwriting. “He hasn’t had this cake, or any cake, since his mom died. I really wanted to make something special for him.”

“Aw, Ben, that’s so sweet. I almost feel bad about charging you for my help. Almost.”

Soon, they had the cake in the oven and Rey sat down with Finn to work on her homework. She told Ben how to make the frosting. With her instructions, it didn’t seem too hard. All he had to do was make whipped cream with some of the strawberries and sugar.

As he started, he wasn’t sure if just mixing the ingredients were actually going to turn it into a frosting and he thought about asking Rey if she was sure it would work. But she was busy doing her homework and he decided not to interrupt her. If he messed up, he’d ask her later.

He turned on the mixer and started mixing the cream and strawberries. It didn’t seem like anything was happening, but Rey said it would take about eight minutes. He glanced over at the clock. He’d give it eight minutes and if it didn’t work, he’d bug Rey about it.

Before too long, he could see that the milk was becoming thicker, and after eight minutes, he turned the mixer off. It really did look like frosting. Ben smiled. He’d actually made it. And as long as the cake came out all right, he’d have the perfect cake for Armitage.

The cake was still in the oven, so there wasn’t much for Ben to do, so he sat down at the table and looked at what Finn and Rey were doing. He remembered doing the same homework five years ago. He and Armitage had sat at that same table, although he’d never been as focused as Rey. Usually, he and Armitage ended up making out before too long.

“I could do this for you,” Ben said, grabbing a sheet of paper from Rey. She immediately grabbed it back from him.

“I’m pretty sure you failed most of your classes,” Rey said.

“I didn’t fail,” he muttered. “I got a few C’s.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I need your help.”

Finn and Rey continued to work on their homework, and although Rey insisted they didn’t need his help, Ben couldn’t help but interject and try to help out anyway. Every now and then, he was right. He might not have done very well in school, but that had been because he was bored and just didn’t care.

Finally, the oven timer went off and Ben jumped up and went to get the cake out, but Rey got there first. She grabbed a toothpick and before pulling it out, she stuck it inside the cake, explaining that she was checking that it was done. Ben hadn’t even thought about how to make sure it was fully baked. It looked good on the outside.

Rey pulled the cake out and Ben wanted to frost it right away and get it home, but once again, Ben realized he knew nothing about cakes. Rey said they had to wait a few minutes before removing it from the pan and then they had to wait for it to cool completely before frosting it. At that rate, Armitage was going to be home before Ben.

It was already lunch time and Ben ordered a pizza for them. They might as well eat while they waited. By the time the pizza arrived and they ate, the cake was cool and Ben was able to put the frosting on and decorate it with sliced strawberries. He was really excited to get it home, but he soon realized he didn’t know how he was going to get it home without destroying the decorating. Fortunately, Rey saved him yet again and found a box he could use.

Ben headed home and saw that he had about thirty minutes before Armitage made it home. He put the cake on the kitchen table and put his present in a bag, leaving it next to the cake. Now all he had to do was wait. Ben soon found himself worrying that Armitage would hate it and refuse to even try the cake. He said he didn’t want anything and Ben started to worry that all his work had been for nothing.

He tried to distract himself watching some videos, but he couldn’t focus on anything. He didn’t want to have a fight with Armitage just because he tried to do something nice. They loved each other, but they did have their rough patches and Ben started to think he was about to start another one.

When he heard the door open, Ben jumped up from the couch, wondering if it would be possible to hide the cake from him. He pulled Armitage into a hug and kissed him. Maybe if he took him to the bedroom and wore him out, he could hide everything. 

But Armitage was smart and knew something was up.

“What’s gotten into you?” Armitage asked as he pulled away.

“Nothing,” Ben said, unable to look at him.

“Something’s going on,” Armitage said, starting to look around their apartment. Ben was standing between him and the kitchen but he couldn’t stand in his way forever and soon, Armitage walked around him and into the kitchen area.

Armitage froze and was silent for what felt like forever. Ben stayed right where he was, too scared to move or say anything. He had no idea if Armitage was mad. Would he start yelling at him or just walk out of the apartment?

“What is this?” Armitage asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Sorry,” Ben apologized immediately. “I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I thought you would like it. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Armitage said, turning to face him. “I’m surprised. I don’t think I told you it was a strawberry cake. How did you know?”

“Um. I sorta went over to Brendol’s to see if I could get the recipe and I found it and then Rey helped me make it.”

“You… you got my mother’s recipe? How? Why would Brendol let you take that?”

“He didn’t. Maratelle let me though. And I had to punch Brendol.”

“You punched him?” Armitage grinned and then threw his arms around Ben. “That’s honestly the best present you could have gotten me, although the cake is a nice touch too. Thank you.”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Of course not, Ben.” Armitage kissed him. “I really didn’t want anything, but it’s so sweet of you to do this. I never thought I’d be happy to see a birthday cake again.”

Ben was so relieved that his hard work hadn’t been for nothing. Of course, they still hadn’t tried any of the cake yet. Ben cut them each a slice and watched nervously as Armitage took a bite.

“Oh my god,” Armitage said. “This is really it. Ben, thank you so much. I never thought I’d have this cake again.”

“I’ll make it for you whenever you want,” Ben said immediately without thinking about it.

“I thought your sister made it,” Armitage said.

“I helped. I did the frosting on my own. Rey said she’ll rewrite the recipe so I can understand the instructions. So maybe I can make it for you.”

“That would be really nice,” Armitage said with a smile. “But I think it might be best to just make it once a year. It always was just for my birthday.”

“I can do that,” Ben said. It really was a good cake - one of the best that Ben had ever had - and he understood why Armitage liked it so much. 

“What’s this?” Armitage asked as he picked up the bag on the table.

“Oh. Um, Maratelle gave me a few other things besides the recipe and I thought you’d like them.” Ben had nearly forgotten about that, having been so relieved that Armitage liked the cake.

Ben watched Armitage as he opened up the bag and pulled out the books Maratelle had given him. Ben had briefly looked at them and saw that they mostly contained drawings and a few photographs. Most of them had been taped down, but there was one that hadn’t been and Ben took that one and put it in a frame. Armitage pulled it out and Ben could see tears in his eyes.

“Ben,” Armitage choked out as he gently set the picture of him and his mother down. He threw his arms around Ben and Ben could feel tears soaking into his shirt. Ben held onto him, rubbing his back and stroking his hair.

They stayed like that for a long time, and Ben eventually led Armitage to the couch, still not letting go of each other. When Armitage finally lifted his head from Ben’s chest, his eyes were red but he was also smiling.

“Thank you so much Ben,” he said. “I never thought it would be worth celebrating my birthday again. I love you.”

Ben smiled and kissed Armitage, so glad that everything had been worth the trouble. He would do anything to make Armitage happy. That was the most important thing in the world to Ben.

**Author's Note:**

> Come follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/battle_walrus)!


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